I tried getting some action soccer shots and that is tough. Things move too fast. You can do a better job of following the action if your camera has an optical viewfinder. I gave up trying to follow the action using the LCD screen.
The response time you mention is called shutter lag.
When you press the shutter button, the autofocus mechanism has to achieve focus and that takes the most of the time. Then there is a slight delay 0.2 or 0.1 second to capture the scene.
You can help the situation by following the action and press the shutter button halfway down to achieve focus lock. When the real action occurs, you press the button the rest of the way down.
The newer cameras are reducing the time to achieve focus lock.
One of the fastest I have seen advertised is the Kodak DX7440. They claim 0.2 second total lag time.
By digital camera standards, that is "smokin'".
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I'm looking for recommendations on a digital camera that would be fast enough to catch action shots of my son's soccer and basketball games. My current digital is just too slow in its response time to catch a quick shot on goal or a fast break lay up. Thanks for any ideas offered.

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